To read the tips and watch the tutorials inside our apps choose Help > Support Assistant and follow the link to the Tips and Tutorials page.

We have updated all editions of DEVONagent to version 3.2, too, with quite a number of smaller enhancements and fixes. Click here to read more.

“Devonian (after Devon County, England), the geologic period from 410 to 360 million years ago. Also called the Reptile Age or Age of Fishes. First amphibians appeared on the land, that until then was only inhabited by trees and other plants — it was the departure into a new age.”

So the Devonian was the time the animals crawled into their future on dry land. We named our artificial intelligence technology after it because for us it marks the departure into a new age of computing. You can read more about our company, the technology, and the people behind it on our About Us page.

To drag a file you’re just editing or viewing drag its icon in the document window’s title bar (if available).

In the last few weeks I have been working behind the curtain on a new online shop with a new provider, Avangate. The new shop is easier to navigate, much better integrated, and offers us a more modern backend. If you had problems with our previous shop check it out.

So you can now download the documentation for DEVONthink & Co. as completely restyled PDF in portrait format for printing or as ebook in ePub format. You can read the ebooks on almost any modern ebook reader, e.g. your iPad with iBooks or your Kindle.

The only device that currently doesn’t work with the ePub standard is the Amazon Kindle which uses a different format. There are, however, free converters like the Online ePub Converter or the free application Calibre.

Right- or ⌃Control-click items in the panel to show the contextual menu with additional options. Open them in other apps, add them to Safari’s reading list or to DEVONthink, or copy them. You can even drag them to other applications or the Finder. Double-clicking a result with the ⌘Command key pressed opens it in the background without interrupting what you’re currently doing.

Please keep an eye on this blog to stay updated on the progress we make with embedding DEVONthink To Go into our new sync workflow as I will report back regularly from our labs now.

For example if a document with a wide range of topics or content-wise unrelated data “disturbs” the artificial intelligence and appears over and over in the results. Or you have a group with data that you want or need to keep in the database but its contents doesn’t fit with the rest of the document collection. By excluding them from classification or see-also you get better results again. You can exclude documents with content that should not appear in searches from the index, too.

To exclude an item from classification, see-also, or search select it and open the item’s Info panel (Tools > Show Info). Check from what you would like to exclude the item.

So if you are a DEVONthink Pro Office user and own a scanner other than a Fujitsu ScanSnap (we support this using a different technique), a digital camera, iPhone, iPod, or iPad with a camera please download the 3rd public beta of the DEVONthink Scanner Plugin here and give it a test drive. The accompanying Readme file explains how to install it, use it, and how to report issues and send feedback.

Note: Updated archive now including the Read Me file.

Thank you for all that wonderful time!

And because we’re so happy we give you 25 percent discount on all our apps all this weekend long! Whether you don’t have a license for DEVONthink, DEVONagent, DEVONsphere, and DEVONnote yet and want to buy one, or you want to give a license to someone who needs it, too — this weekend is your chance to get it for a great price!

Click here or our birthday cake above to grab your discount (becomes available March 29, 2012 at 6 p.m. CET). And if you think your friends, colleagues, or family could like this, too, feel free to post this on your favorite social network, re-tweet it, or send it around by old-school email!

This is a world-wide offer and so starts on March 29, 2012at 6 p.m. CET so that you can take advantage of it regardless if you live in New Zealand or on Hawaii. The offer will close on Tuesday, April 3, 2012, at 9 a.m. CET.

Note: The offer is now available!

If you don’t like this behavior though or if you have groups with the very same name appearing in multiple places in your groups hierarchy, e.g. if you have a “Sent” group inside groups for every year, then DEVONthink and DEVONnote propose all of them when you type “Sent” into the tag bar. It becomes hard to decide which one is the one you’re looking for. In this case exclude only the “Sent” groups from tagging. Or, if you don’t like our approach at all and want to go for “pure” tagging, you can even completely exclude all groups in a database from tagging by checking the respective checkbox in the database’s properties (File > Database Properties) and assign tags manually.

• Get up to speed in a hurry with recent improvements in DEVONthink (“Quicker Start”).
• Take a fresh look at groups and tags. The new edition explains how it all works.
• Select a sharing strategy.
• Use scanners and digital cameras with DEVONthink more easily. Covers the upcoming new scan feature.
• Go mobile with the DEVONthink To Go iOS app.
• Use workspaces to save and restore arrangements of windows and other onscreen elements.
• Store Web pages more easily with new browser extensions.
• Import email messages from Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, and Entourage.
• Understand how to best use the improved Sorter, especially in Full Screen mode.
• Sync DEVONthink databases between Macs. This chapter already covers the upcoming new sync feature.

Get the new Take Control of Getting Started with DEVONthink 2 in our online shop for only US $15. If you own a copy of version 1 of this ebook you have already received an email with details about how to upgrade (maybe even for free if you have purchased just recently; if you haven’t contact us or Take Control Publishers, depending on where you bought it).

1. What will it sync?
   It will sync databases directly between Macs or using sync stores on file servers, Dropbox, or WebDAV. Using sync stores  it can keep many copies of the databases in sync. A sync store can hold multiple databases.
2. Why does it take you so long?
   Synchronizing is a complex process as there are many, many corner cases that need to be taken care of (imported files, indexed files, databases moved to other volumes, etc.). In addition, we’re syncing tens of gigabytes in hundreds of thousands of files. The requirements here are way higher than for syncing just a list of tasks or a handful of pictures. We’re playing in a totally different league, complexity-wise.
3. Why did you announce it so early then?
   We announced it already last year because we thought that it would be ready soon. Unfortunately it wasn’t. When implementing the Dropbox and WebDAV support (the last major thing to be done at that time) we found out that their programming interface does not even allow to transfer files larger than 10 megabytes — maybe no problem for the casual Dropbox user but a dealbreaker for DEVONthink users. Unexpectedly, we ended up writing our completely own Dropbox and WebDAV frameworks.
4. So, now, when will it come?
   All features are implemented and the user interface is done. Dropbox support, WebDAV, and direct connections between Macs are working reliably except for a few corner cases. What is left, then? Just some more testing, testing, testing. We’re not the company that plays Russian Roulette with your data.
5. How will I know it’s available?
   Simply continue following this blog. We will post a public beta of the sync technology as soon as we feel that we can give it to you without feeling guilty when it does something not anticipated.

So please apologize the long delay since our last public announcement. We’re working hard on getting the sync technology to work fast and reliable. It’s just nothing you write in a few weeks, not even months. It needs time when you want to do it right. And that’s what we always want to do when we’re writing software. We’re nearly there, we’re on the finishing line, and everything is ready, but we want to fix all bugs and solve all problems we have found before we finally uncage it.

To get the bookmarklet, open the following mini web page in your browser and follow the instructions: Make editable.

If you want to assign multiple tags to or remove them from a larger number of documents at once, use Scripts > Tags > Add tags to selection or Scripts > Tags > Remove tags from selection which you can install in DEVONthink Pro from Help > Support Assistant on the Extras tab.

And if you’re the mind mapping type, we have another gem for you: MyThoughts, a great mind mapping app from our friends at Mode de Vie Software, is now also available from us. Of course you can add your mind maps to DEVONthink or link to documents in your databases, too. Click here to learn more about it.

So if you are a DEVONthink Pro Office user and own a scanner other than a Fujitsu ScanSnap (we support this using a different technique), a digital camera, iPhone, iPod, or iPad with a camera please download the 2nd public beta of the DEVONthink-Scanner-Plugin-Beta2 here and give it a test drive. The accompanying Readme file explains how to install it, use it, and how to report issues and send feedback.

DEVONsphere Server indexes your Intranet or any websites and provides your users with a fast and powerful search function that delivers relevant results empowered with unique smart features. You can use to build your own, specialized search engine or to make all the important documents, white papers, and other files in your company searchable with the advanced search technology you already know from DEVONtechnologies.

Click here to visit the product page.

DEVONsphere Server is not yet available for purchasing but if you’re interested in pilot-testing it, get in touch with us.

Visit the DEVONsphere Express product page and watch the screencast!

Before we make this plugin part of DEVONthink Pro Office we’d like to gather some more experience with your scanner or camera and listen to what you think about it. Yes, we don’t have all models available for testing in our labs. No kidding.

So if you are a DEVONthink Pro Office user and own a scanner other than a Fujitsu ScanSnap (we support this using a different technique), a digital camera, iPhone, iPod, or iPad with a camera please download the DEVONthink Scanner Plugin Beta here and give it a test drive. The accompanying Readme file explains how to install it, use it, and how to report issues and send feedback.

Update: A new public beta 2 is available. Click here.

Templates können einfache Dateien sein, die dann direkt als Vorlage benutzt werden. DEVONthink unterstützt aber auch komplexere Templates, die Skripte enthalten können und auch mehrere Sprachvarianten. Diese Templates werden in AppleScript packages verpackt. Nach aussen stellen sie sich wie einfache Dateien dar.

If you read German make sure to have a look. Click here.

GigaOm blogger Nancy Nally about the book:

The authors of “SEND” aren’t etiquette mavens laying down arbitrary rules. Instead, what they’ve created — after years of heavy professional email usage — is actually a guide to improving the quality of communications via email. … If you live (and work) by your inbox, “SEND” is a must-read for improving the quality of your email communication and avoiding costly missteps.

Click here to visit the book authors’ website.

But the advantage of a book like “The Most Human Human” is that even when it’s wrong, it does make you think. Reading it, I constantly found my mind pinging off of whatever Christian was discussing and into flights of exploratory speculation about the amount of information encoded in the seemingly routine exchanges of small talk or the reasons why it’s much harder to tell a false story in reverse chronological order. It’s an unusual book whose primary gift lies in distracting you from itself. I’d like to see the computers come up with something like that.

Click here to read more from Laura Miller about this unusual book.

Yours Eric Böhnisch-Volkmann & the DEVONtechnologies team

PS: Our office will be closed from December 23, 2011, to January 8, 2012. Support will be available by email but we might reply slower than usual.

Learn more about how you can use Keyboard Maestro for automating things in DEVONthink in our user forum.

[…] It is excellent. I never give feedback to anybody unless I am really, really extremely frustrated and dissatisfied with something (by definition a grumpy old git). So this email is a bit of a departure. Well done on developing such a marvellous, easy to use and useful piece of software. Wish I had shares in it. If you have any doubters send them over to me, I’d be delighted to explain how much it has helped me. I mean it, send them over.

Thank you, Tony, for your email!

No wonder I am pleased to notice that Pair Networks, the data center that runs e.g. the DEVONtechnologies website, is building a brand new data center with the goal of creating the world’s greenest hosting facility. Thumbs up!

One often-overlooked tool for doing deep research is DEVONagent. It allows you to really dig into a topic and find citations that might take much longer with a straight Google search. DEVONagent Express is equally useful, especially in blogging situations.

Click here to read more about how Brett collects data for his blog posts.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) proposes DEVONthink as one of the best Mac productivity apps 2011. Now help us and nominate DEVONthink, visit TUAW and leave a comment!

This is a world-wide offer and so starts on November 24, 2011, at 6 p.m. CET so that you can take advantage of it regardless if you live in New Zealand or on Hawaii. The offer will close on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, at 9 a.m. CET.

Like it has been a tradition in the USA for many, many years, we give you an exclusive discount of 25 percent on all our software products, only from Black Friday through Cyber Monday weekend (Nov 25 through Nov 28), as well as on all upgrades and apps in the Mac and iOS App Store (as soon as Apple has released the price change). So if you are playing with the idea to buy a license or an upgrade, for you, your spouse, your kids, or your friends, this weekend is the right time! Click here for more information.

This is a world-wide offer and so starts on November 24, 2011, at 6 p.m. CET so that you can take advantage of it regardless if you live in New Zealand or on Hawaii. The offer will close on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, at 9 a.m. CET.

Install it from DEVONthink’s or DEVONnote’s Support Assistant (open it from the Help menu and follow the link at the bottom to the extras page). Thank you, Nicolae!

Infotention is a word I came up with to describe a mind-machine combination of brain-powered attention skills and computer-powered information filters. The inside and outside of infotention work best together with a third element ‹ sociality.

Howard talks about how he receives information and applies hard-carved filters so that in the end he only has to read and watch the most relevant data.

I already quoted him in my diploma thesis on virtual reality and I also strongly suggest everyone interested in the cultural, social and political implications of modern communication media to keep an eye on his publications. Click here to watch his “Mini course on infotention”.

DEVONthink — Das Arbeitsbuch is available for US $ 12.50 in our online shop (see the DEVONthink section) as well as for €8.99 on the author’s homepage.